Soil characteristics associated with microbial inoculants that enhance agricultural crop yields

The demands on the agricultural sector have drastically increased due to the rapid growth of human populations. For crop yields to meet these needs, chemical fertilizers are employed to enhance plant growth. However, the overuse of fertilizers contributes significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Canadian agriculture and produces nitrate runoff that reduces surface water quality. Simply limiting fertilizer use would risk national food security by reducing crop yields. Therefore, the development of alternative methods to enhance crop yields without adding more nitrogen fertilizer is critical. One option is to use microbial inoculants that promote the growth of crops. The BENEFIT project (Bio-inoculants for the promotion of nutrient use efficiency and crop resiliency in Canadian Agriculture) aims to produce a comprehensive collection of beneficial, native microbial inoculants suitable for different soil and crop types. In Activity 1 of the project, soil samples were collected from wheat, canola, and barley crops across a wide variety of soils in Manitoba and Ontario, and soil bacteria were isolated and screened for crop growth-promoting capabilities. My work characterized soil properties of samples collected from farms in the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario. I measured key soil quality parameters, including bulk density, particle-size distribution, moisture content, total nitrogen and carbon, soil organic matter, pH, and available nitrogen. I will document the range of conditions over which beneficial bioinoculants are found. Once the screening process is complete, other researchers in the project will compare soil properties for different bioinoculants, or the range of soil properties under which an inoculant will thrive. At the end of our projects, farmers will be able to discern which inoculants will be beneficial to their land and cropping system, allowing them to determine the economic viability and environmental cost of using bioinoculants to boost crop production.